Attorney for Trayvon Martin takes on Bellaire police shooting

By Brian Rogers |
May 12, 2014
| Updated: May 12, 2014 3:09pm

Robbie Tolan speaks during a news conference at the Power Center, Monday, May 12, 2014, in Houston. Tolan, the former baseball player shot by Bellaire Police in 2008, and his family addressed the media for the first time following the recent unanimous decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to revive the family's lawsuit against several parties including Bellaire police officers, Bellaire's mayor and police chief.

Photo By Cody Duty/Houston Chronicle

Monday, May 12, 2014, in Houston.

Photo By Cody Duty/Houston Chronicle

Trayvon Martin's family attorney Benjamin Crump, left, hugs Robbie Tolan, right, during a news conference at the Power Center, Monday, May 12, 2014, in Houston. Crump will join Tolan's legal team to help the former baseball player shot by Bellaire Police in 2008, and his family after the U.S. Supreme Court revived the family's lawsuit against several parties including Bellaire police officers, Bellaire's mayor and police chief.

Photo By Cody Duty/Houston Chronicle

Bobby and Marian Tolan sit with their son Robbie, and Trayvon Martin's family attorney Benjamin Crump, right, during a news conference at the Power Center, Monday, May 12, 2014, in Houston. Tolan, the former baseball player shot by Bellaire Police in 2008, and his family addressed the media for the first time following the recent unanimous decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to revive the family's lawsuit against several parties including Bellaire police officers, Bellaire's mayor and police chief.

Photo By Cody Duty/Houston Chronicle

Monday, May 12, 2014, in Houston.

Pastors, legislators and the civil rights attorney who represented Trayvon Martin's family against George Zimmerman last year vowed Monday to get justice for Robbie Tolan, the former minor league baseball player who was shot by a Bellaire police sergeant in 2008.

"The Supreme Court said that this should go to a jury," lawyer Benjamin Crump told a crowd of more than 100 people at a press conference announcing he had been hired by Tolan and his parents. "If this could happen to a model family, like this, it could happen to anyone here."

Tolan and his family, who are black, sued Bellaire Sgt. Jeffrey Cotton, another officer and the city of Bellaire for civil rights violations, arguing they they're victims of racial profiling.

That lawsuit was tossed out of court in 2012 by U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon, after lawyers for Cotton argued the case should be dismissed. Harmon agreed in a summary judgment that the Tolan family had not established that the two officers were motivated by race or violated Tolan's constitutional rights. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans later agreed with the ruling.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court revived the case, sending it back to the lower courts to consider the facts from Tolan's point of view more carefully. After the ruling was handed down, Tolan and his parents hired Crump to try to get the case in front of a jury.

Tolan was shot by Sgt. Jeffrey Cotton after midnight on Dec. 31, 2008, in the driveway of the Bellaire home where he lived with his parents.

Tolan and his cousin, Anthony Cooper, were pulling into the driveway of the home when a patrol officer, John Edwards, saw them and ran the license plate number. Edwards later testified he entered the wrong number, one tied to a car that had been reported stolen.

Edwards called for backup, drew his weapon and confronted Tolan and Cooper in front of the house. Hearing voices outside, Tolan's parents came out in their pajamas to explain the car was theirs when Cotton arrived.

Less than a minute later, Tolan was shot as he started to get up from the ground. He testified he was upset police had pushed his mother toward the garage door. Cotton said he thought Tolan was reaching for a gun in his waistband.

A Harris County jury in 2010 found Cotton not guilty of aggravated assault by a public servant. Shortly after that, the Tolan family filed a civil lawsuit against the officers, Bellaire's police chief and mayor, and others.

Lawyers for the city of Bellaire said last week that the ruling was narrow and would not affect the outcome.

"They simply quarrel with the procedure that the court of appeals utilized to reach a determination," said attorney William Helfand. "Judge Harmon's opinion is quite sound."

Crump, who lost last year's case against Zimmerman, was joined on stage Monday by U.S. Representatives Al Green and Sheila Jackson Lee who said they will ask U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder "for justice" in the case.